Thirst

Cold Blood: A tale this twisted is still a mighty thing to behold, even when diluted.

POSTED // Oct 28,2009 - Thirst tells the story of a well-intentioned Catholic priest who volunteers as a subject for an experimental vaccine against a deadly virus, miraculously survives the procedure, but comes out of it a vampire ...

Amreeka

Coming to America: A charming little comedy for the Palestinian refugee in all of us.

POSTED // Oct 7,2009 - Movies about immigrants coming to America are a dime a dozen, so nobody’s saying Amreeka is groundbreaking. It is, however, warmhearted, pleasant and perfectly enjoyable.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Greed Screed: Michael Moore's latest is lost in smugness and jackassery.

POSTED // Sep 30,2009 - When you make your living as a polemicist, it can’t be a good sign when even people who agree with you don’t like you any more. That’s what has happened with Michael Moore ...

Adam

Autistic License: Adam is a simple, light comedy with dramatic underpinnings.

POSTED // Aug 26,2009 - If I told you that Adam was about a man with Asperger’s syndrome—a form of high-functioning autism—you’d lose all interest in it, right?

Funny People

Sad Clowns: Grown-up performances, and plenty of jokes about genitalia.

POSTED // Jul 29,2009 - Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow’s attempt to blend their styles of humor failed in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (which they co-wrote with Robert Smigel), but Funny People...

Moon

Lunar Tics: Moon is a smart story meant for grown-ups.

POSTED // Jul 8,2009 - Intelligent science-fiction is something of a rarity these days, the genre having been overtaken by loud, silly things that focus on technology (weapons, usually) rather than on how humans are affected by it ...

Terminator Salvation

Short Circuit: The Terminator franchise runs out of steam.

POSTED // May 20,2009 - The climax of Terminator Salvation takes place in a factory where Terminator robots are made, and this Terminator factory is indeed a marvel of efficiency. The factory that makes Terminator movies, on the other hand, seems to have gone haywire ...

Medea Goes to Jail

Less of a Drag: Tyler Perry still oversimplifies.

POSTED // Feb 26,2009 - Heaven help me, Madea is starting to grow on me. In Tyler Perry´s latest adaptation of one of his innumerable stage productions, his giant, pistol-packing alter egowho always felt randomly assembled beforehas grown here into a larger-than-life force of nature that is genuinely funny.

He's Just Not That Into You

POSTED // Feb 13,2009 - Based on the dating-advice book of the same name, this would-be romantic comedy has been sitting on the shelf for a year and a half ...

Cinema | No Austin-tation: South by Southwest gives the film-fest experience a populist spin

POSTED // Mar 19,2008 - You know how, when you’re a kid, you assume all families are more or less like yours, and then you spend the night at a friend’s house and discover that your family is actually peculiar in some ways? That’s how it was for me when I went...